Working in a conversation.

Tell Nilux what you need in the message box, in plain words. While it works, each step it takes appears as a line in the conversation: the files it read, what it searched for, the commands it ran and the changes it made.

The message box

• Enter sends, Shift+Enter starts a new line.
• You can write while Nilux works. A message you send then waits above the message box (Queued) until Nilux can take it: Edit puts it back in the box, Remove drops it.
• ↑ in an empty box brings back the messages you sent earlier in this conversation, ↓ goes forward again. Control+R searches them: type a few letters, ↑ and ↓ move between matches, Esc cancels.
• / at the start opens the list of commands and your skills: ↑ and ↓ choose, Enter runs, Tab completes, Esc closes.
• What you typed and did not send stays in the box when you switch to another session, and after you restart the app.

Files and screenshots

Press + in the message box and Add files or images, drag files onto the session, or paste a screenshot or a copied file. Each one shows as a chip on the message.

• In a session, a picture goes to Nilux as a picture. Any other file goes as its path on your Mac, and Nilux reads it from there.
• In a chat, a picture goes as a picture, and PDFs and text or code files are read into the message. Video, audio and other kinds of files cannot be used in a chat.
• One message takes up to 20 files. A file that cannot go says why on its chip.

In a session, a file of the project named in Nilux's answer is a link: click it to open the file in the Files tab beside the session. Right-click a file, in an answer or on a step's line, for Attach as context, Copy (its full path, its path in the project or its name), Open in (an editor such as VS Code, Cursor, Zed or Windsurf if you have one, the Files tab, or the default app) and Show in Finder.

How much Nilux asks

In a session, the chip with the shield at the bottom of the message box shows the permission mode. Click it to choose one, or press Shift+Tab in the message box to go to the next:

• Ask before edits: reads freely, asks before edits and commands. A new session starts in this mode.
• Accept edits: edits files, asks before commands.
• Plan: reads and plans, changes nothing. See Plans below.
• Auto: runs everything without asking; destructive actions are refused. The chip stays yellow while Auto is on.

A conversation you open again comes back in the mode it had. /mode followed by default, accept, plan or auto switches straight to that mode.

Approving what Nilux does

When Nilux wants to do something your mode does not allow on its own, a card appears above the message box: what it wants to do and why, with the command it would run or the change it would make. Answer with a button, or with the number key shown on it:

• Allow: do it, this once.
• Always allow …, when offered: do it, and stop asking about the same kind of thing in this project. The rule is saved in the project's .nilux/settings.json.
• Deny: do not do it.
• Do it differently…: type what Nilux should do instead and press Enter.

If you are typing when a request arrives, it waits until you pause, so a key meant for your message never answers it. When a helper agent asks, the card names the agent.

Plans

In Plan mode Nilux studies the code and writes a plan without changing anything. The plan opens over the conversation; Esc folds it above the message box without answering. Then:

• Approve and implement: Nilux starts the work, and the mode goes back to Ask before edits. The plan is saved to a file, which the conversation names.
• Keep planning: Nilux goes on planning.
• Do it differently…: tell Nilux what to change in the plan.

Nilux may also offer to plan first: Enter plan mode or Proceed without planning.

Questions

When Nilux needs a decision, the question takes the message box's place (Nilux is asking). Pick one of its options, or type your own answer and press Enter. Dismiss closes it without an answer.

Following the work

• Each step is a line; click it to see more. A change shows its diff. A command shows what ran and what it printed, each with a copy button, and, if it changed files, those files with their diffs.
• A command or an MCP call that runs for a while offers Move to background: it goes on running and the conversation goes on. See Agents and workflows.
• For a larger task Nilux keeps a task list. The Tasks chip at the bottom of the message box shows it, done items struck through.
• The line above the message box says what Nilux is doing now.
• In Settings → Conversation, Tool calls can fold a run of steps into one line you open, and Open tool results shows every step's output without a click.

Stop, go back, branch off

Stop (the square in place of the send button) or Esc stops Nilux. What it has done so far stays, and the messages you queued come back into the box.

Point at one of your messages to see when you sent it, Copy, Rewind to here and Fork from here. Under an answer: how long it took, Copy and Rewind to here. In a chat, Rewind to here is not offered.

Rewind goes back to before one of your messages. Pick the point (each says how many files changed after it), then what to restore:

• Restore code and conversation: files go back, and the conversation continues from before that message.
• Restore conversation: only the conversation goes back; files stay as they are now.
• Restore code: only the files go back; the conversation stays.

The choices with files are offered only when files changed after that point. After the conversation goes back, your message is in the message box again, so you can change it and send it. While a reply is being written, the conversation cannot go back: stop it first. /rewind and Rewind… in a session's menu open the same window.

Fork from here starts a new session with the conversation up to that message, named after this one with (fork), and your message in its box. This session stays as it is.

Model, effort and context

• The model chip at the bottom of the message box shows the model and the effort. Click it to switch the model, or the effort: Low (fastest, for routine edits and simple questions), High (the model reasons as much as the task needs; the default) or Max (deepest, slower). New sessions start with what you chose. Prices are on the pricing page.
• The context chip (a ring) shows how full the conversation's context window is. Click it for the numbers, the session's cost so far, Auto-compact, the Limit, and Compact, which puts /compact in the message box: add what to keep, if you like, and send it.
• In a long conversation, a note beside the chips says when the cache expires and what the next message will cost after that. The provider keeps a conversation cached for a while after each message; once that time is up, the next message reads the whole conversation again at the full price.

Commands

Type / for the full list. Some commands open the app's own windows and menus:

• /config: Settings. /agents: Settings → Agents.
• /resume: the search, to open any earlier session or chat.
• /rewind: the Rewind window.
• /model, /effort, /mode, /context: the menu of the matching chip.
• /mcp, /plugins, /hooks, /skills and /memory: their windows; see Settings.
• /help: the keyboard shortcuts. /balance: the account menu, with your balance. /logout: logs you out.

Your skills are in the list too, under Skills.